09-Mar-2007 -- A weekend getaway to Milan wouldn’t have been fully successful without visiting a confluence. Therefore I planned a journey to Voghera – a little town ca. 60 km south of Milan – where a 45N 09E point is located.

At 9:30 AM I arrived at the Bergamo airport, about 40 km northeast of Milan. The flight from Cracow was not long but the weather changed dramatically. In Poland it was cold, windy and it rained, while on the southern side of the Alps spring was in full bloom. I took a short tour around "Città alta" (upper city), a medieval town located atop the hill, and via "Città bassa" (lower city) I returned to the railway station in Bergamo. At 12:30 PM I departed by train for Milan, changed the trains at Milan Lambrate and at a couple of minutes past two I arrived at Certosa di Pavia. In the 15th century an impressive monastery of the Carthusian Order was built there. Specifically the Renaissance façade of the church (all in marble with rich decorations) and the Small Cloister are worth seeing. Unfortunately, due to restoration works some parts of the façade were obscured. After two hours I resumed my journey and at 16:45 I arrived at Voghera.

My return train was scheduled for 17:20 so I had merely 35 minutes to get to the confluence, record my visit, and return to the station. The CP was ca. 800 m away as the crow flies but I knew that I had to cross the railroad track in a proper place. Under those circumstances a detailed city plan from Google Maps turned out to be very helpful as it contained names and routes of all streets (even those tiny ones) and allowed me to head for the CP without delay. According to the GPS receiver my average speed was 8 km/h and after a couple of minutes I reached the confluence point neighborhood. It was quite warm (15 C) and I was carrying a not-so-light backpack, so after that “race” sweat streamed down my forehead.

As my predecessors reported the point lay on a private property, but only 15 m from the fence. Since I was in a hurry I didn’t bother to enter the villa but took pictures from the street. Unfortunately, there was a dense hedge right behind the fence so I couldn’t take a direct shot of the “zero” point. Within minutes I was done with the photographs and started my return leg “run”. I arrived at the station on time, bought the ticket and with big relief took a seat in a compartment. On the way back to Milan I took another short stop in Pavia – a very nice city with located on the river Ticino, near its confluence (a real, river confluence) with the Po.

As it was my first confluence visit in Italy I asked Mrs. Anna Cianchini – my former English teacher, who is also a professional translator of English and Italian and currently lives in Rome – to translate my narrative into Italian. Signora Anna, thank you very much for your help!